Mariano Gotay is the owner of Café Gotay, the premier locale for Garífuna food in the entire country of Guatemala. Mariano is careful about using only the freshest, home-grown ingredients in conjunction with authentic Garífuna recipes passed down through generations. You simply cannot eat at a tourist restaurant and think you've tried authentic Garífuna food without visiting one of Mariano's two restaurants in Livingston. (After all, why would you eat Garífuna food in a Chinese restaurant?)

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Mystics of Gotay's Place

Yesterday a group of Honduran Garínagu youths met at my humble abode (also known as Gotay’s Place) to listen to Tomas Sanchez and I give a short talk on doing service for the Garífuna community.They arrived through a contact of Tomas Sanchez, a friend of his from California.This meeting was especially ‘mystical’ since my place had been blown away by a tornado less than one month ago.

I had prepared something for the guests and I to eat, but first we joined some tables together to sit and talk about issues in the Garífuna community.First, Tomas spoke about service to the Garífuna community and from there he was able to ease into a dialogue about issues of special import to the Garífuna community such as education, tourism and agriculture, with a special emphasis on tourism and agriculture.Afterwards, I spoke of spirituality, what it means to our people and how it affects the modern Garínagu youths.

If you would like to know more about this meeting or about Garífuna spirituality in general (or about the food I prepared for the group), I invite you to leave a comment or email me directly.

2 comments:

I've recently stepped into my Power as a Shamanic Reiki Practitioner. Part of my practice is "being of Service" to my Community (all of them). One of the things that is a challenge for me regarding "Garifuna Spirituality" is what I keep hearing from my family and those immersed in Garifuna Spirituality that a buyei is not a buyei unless he/she speaks Garifuna. Spirit has been calling me all my life... my earliest memories are of me hearing the drums at Temple in Dangriga and just being irresistibly "pulled" there. I'm half Belize Creole and half Garifuna yet I'm repeatedly told that I am unable to take a leading role in Garifuna Spirituality because I do not speak Garifuna. I may not speak Garifuna but I'm here to tell the world that I am deeply spiritual. My Ancestors (all of them) walk with me on my Path and as they guide me I offer myself in Service.